Palestine Comedy Club (12A)

What’s funny about life under occupation? Palestine Comedy Club is a rollercoaster road-movie that follows six Palestinian stand-up comedians from Haifa, Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and the Golan Heights who devise and tour a stand-up comedy show exploring the unlikely, often dark humour that circles the complex question of Palestinian identity.

There is no tradition of regular comedy clubs in Palestine and communities are divided by walls, fences and checkpoints that create major disparities in culture and quality of life between one town and another. As such, developing a comedy show that can speak to these very different audiences is almost impossible and the comedians face many challenges in earning comic license and connecting with their fellow Palestinians across the divides.

Despite the cultural and security challenges of touring six Palestinian comedians - all with different travel permissions - across checkpoints and borders to six theatres in Palestine and Israel, audiences flock to the shows and the tour gains momentum through increasing public demand. Word spreads internationally and they are invited to London for a series of gigs starting, tragically, on October 7th, 2023. Just as war breaks out at home, the comedians prepare to perform in English for the first time to an increasingly conflicted British public. Suddenly, the mission to connect with audiences with thoughtful humanity becomes an existential imperative. 

Palestine Comedy Club is a quest to find joy in the tragedy of Palestinian life, and create connection against the odds through a common love of laughter.